English phrase of the day: Out of line

Hello! Today’s phrase of the day is out of line. I saw it in a movie that was about the military. One soldier didn’t agree with the orders he received from his commanding officer, so he spoke up and challenged the commander in front of everyone else. The commanding officer yelled, “You’re out of line!”

If someone is out of line, it means they are acting inappropriately and often disrespectfully. In the movie example, appropriate and proper behavior for a soldier would be to follow the orders without questioning them. But the soldier loudly disagreed, and that’s why his commanding officer said he was out of line.

Another example would be this: let’s say you’re at a funeral for a family member -a funeral is a ceremony for someone who has died -and one of your cousins is laughing and making silly jokes during the ceremony. You could say that her behavior was out of line because it’s inappropriate for a sad and difficult occasion, and disrespectful in that situation.

Now you know what the phrase “out of line” means. I hope you’ll join me tomorrow for our final video in this “phrase of the day” series!